Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus

Also known as

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Raised in an educated and intellectual family with no faith, but who apparently went through some of the motions since she received her first Communion on Christmas 1829 at age twelve. She had a conversion experience, came to the faith, and felt a call to religious life by hearing the Lenten sermons of the Dominican Henri Lacordaire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France. She made a short novitiate with the Sisters of the Visitation at Cote Saint-Andre, but did not take vows.

During a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sainte-Anne d'Auray in 1825, Eugenie felt called to found a teaching institute that would work in the world, but kept monastic observances. In 1839 she founded the group later named the Congregation of the Assumption (Religious of the Assumption, Sisters of the Assumption) to perform this mission. The Assumptionists received papal approval in 1888, and continue their good work in 34 countries around the world today.

Born

Died

10 March 1898 at Auteuil, Hauts-de-Seine, France of natural causes

Canonized

3 June 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI

Prayers

Lord, Jesus Christ, you gave Marie Eugenie the grace of belonging entirely to you. You filled her with an ardent desire to know You and make You known, to love You and make You loved. May the Church, which she so greatly loved and served, recognize her way to holiness and proclaim her a saint among the Saints in Heaven. Grant us all grace to live as she did in holiness and love, faithful to our particular vocation for Your glory and the salvation of the world. Amen. - prayer for the canonization of Mother Marie Eugenie

Father of all Goodness, You revealed to Marie Eugenie the mystery of Your Holiness. In her rediscovered faith, You made her understand that all honor and glory are given You by a humanity restored in Jesus Christ. Send us the fullness of Your Holy Spirit! May He make us adorers in Spirit and in Truth! And may peoples of all tongues, races and nations become but one, to the praise of Your Glory, forever and ever. Amen. - prayer in honor of Saint Marie Eugenie

Saint John Ogilvie

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Walter Ogilvie was a Scottish noble who raised his son John in the state religion of Scotland, Calvinism. John converted to Catholicism at age 17 at Louvain, Belgium, and then attended several Catholic educational institutions. He joined the Jesuits soon after in 1597, and was ordained in Paris, France in 1610. Sent to work in Rouen, France.

It was a time of great persecution of Catholicism in Scotland. "Send only those," wrote the Earl of Angus to the Jesuit General, "who wish for this mission and are strong enough to bear the heat of the day, for they will be in exceeding danger." Wholesale massacres of Catholics had taken place in the past, but by this point the hunters concentrated on priests and those who attended Mass. The Jesuits were determined to minister to the oppressed Catholic laity, but when captured, they were tortured for information, then hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Ogilvie repeatedly requested assignment to his home Scotland, and it was finally granted; he returned in November 1613. He worked as an underground missionary in Edinburgh and Glasgow, dodging the Queen's priest-hunters, disguised as a soldier named Watson. After 11 months in the field (and on the run), John was betrayed by a phony Catholic, imprisoned, interrogated, then tortured for the names of active Catholics. He gave no information. "Your threats cheer me; I mind them no more than the cackling of geese," he told his captors. Asked if he feared to die Father John replied, "No more than you do to dine."

After three trials he was convicted of treason for being loyal to the Pope, and denying the king's supremacy in spiritual matters. He is the Church's only officially recorded Scottish martyr.

Born

1579 at Drum, Grampian, Scotland

Died

• hanged 10 March 1615 at Glasgow, Scotland
• no relic of his body has survived

Canonized

17 October 1976 by Pope Paul VI

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Blessed Elias del Socorro Nieves

Also known as

Mateo Elias Nieves

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Born a sickly baby in a deeply religious peasant family; had to be quickly baptized as they did not think he would survive. Nearly died of tuberculosis at age 12. His father died soon after, and Elias had to support the family. Admitted to the Augustinian college of Yuriria at age 22, considerably older than the standard admission age. Took vows in 1911 as Elias del Socorro. Ordained on 9 April 1916. Parochial vicar of the village of La Canada de Caracheo in 1921. During the government persecution of the Church, he refused to a city where he could be controlled; moving instead to nearby hills where he continued to serve his parish, usually under cover of dark. Arrested with some pious laymen, and martyred on the side of the road for his faith and service.

Born

21 September 1882 at San Pedro, Yuriria, Guanajuato, Mexico as Mateo Elias Nieves

Died

shot by soldiers under the command of Captain Manuel Marquez Cervantes on 10 March 1928

Beatified

12 October 1997 by Pope John Paul II

Patronage

Mexico

Readings

Long live Christ the King! - Blessed Elias' dying words

Every priest who preaches the Word of God in times of persecution has no escape; he will die like Jesus on the Cross, with arms tied. - Blessed Elias

Pope Saint Simplicius

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Son of Castinus. Held the pontificate during the end of the Roman Empire. He defended the Council of Chalcedon against the Monophysites heresy of the Eastern empire. Worked for the Italian people against barbarian invaders. Built four large churches in Rome, and brought some order and organization to the administration of the sacraments in the local churches, bringing the focus back to the sacrament rather than the place of its administration. Opposed Emperor Leo who wanted to officially make the Patriarch of Constantinople second only to the pope in authority. Worked to support orthodox Christianity against the Arianism promoted by King Odoacer.

Born

Papal Ascension

Died

Blessed John of Vallombrosa

Also known as

John of the Holy Trinity

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Benedictine Vallombrosan monk at Florence, Italy, taking the religious name John of the Holy Trinity. Developed a fascination with black magic, and began to study and practice it in secret, collecting occult and forbidden writings. Eventually found out and summoned before the abbot-general of the Vallumbrosans, John first denied his studies, then confessed. He was imprisoned by the Order, which proved to be his salvation. The solitude led him to true penitence, and some severe self-imposed autsterities. Seeing his conversion, his brothers asked that he return to the community, but he refused, preferring the saving solitude of his cell. He lived to old age as a hermit, writing, and receiving visions of Saint Catherine of Siena.

Blessed Wirnto of Formbach

Also known as

Additional Memorial

29 October (day of election as abbot)

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Benedictine monk at the Saint Blase monastery in the Black Forest in Germany. Prior of Göttweig monastery in Austria. Monk at Formbach in Lower Bavaria (in modern Germany) in 1107 where he worked with Blessed Beregar. Abbot of Formbach on 29 October 1108. Noted for his personal austerities, he brought the reforms to religious life that he had learned in his previous houses. A miracle worker and healer, he oversaw a large expansion to the abbey.

Died

Beatified

Saint Attalas of Bobbio

Also known as

Attal, Attala, Attale

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Monk at Lérins, France. Monk at Luxeuil Abbey. Helped Columbanus build the abbey in Bobbio, Italy. Served as its abbot from 615. During Attalas's abbacy most of the monks stood out against the severity of the Columbanian Rule. His monks included Saint Valery and Saint Blitmund of Bobbio.

Saint Kessog

Also known as

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Son of the king of Cashel, Ireland, Kessel grew up a pious child, and was known as a miracle worker. Missionary bishop to Scotland in the area of Lennox and southern Perthshire, working from Monk's Island in Loch Lomond. May have been martyred at Bandry, Scotland, but records are unclear. His name was used as a battle cry by the Scots, and the Kessog oil field in the North Sea is named after him.

Died

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Saint Anastasia the Patrician

Also known as

• Anastasia of Skete
• Anastasia the Eunuch
• Anastasius...

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Christian Byzantine noble. Lady-in-waiting to the Empress Theodora in Constantinople. To escape the unwanted attentions of the Emperor Justinian, Anastaia fled the court to a convent in Alexandria, Egypt. On the death of Theodora, Justinian launched a search for Anastasia. To escape, she assumed a male identity and costume, and lived her remaining 28 years as a hermit in the desert of Scete.

Died

Beatified

Saint Macarius of Jerusalem

Also known as

Macario

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Bishop of Jerusalem in 314. Fought Arianism. Participated in and signed the documents of the Council of Nicaea, and helped formulate the Nicene Creed. When Saint Helena discovered a collection of crosses, one of which was the True Cross, Macarius suggested identifying the real one by touching them to a seriously ill woman, and seeing which one cured her. Supervised the construction of the church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Died

Saint Codratus of Nicomedië

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Fed and ministered to prisoners who were arrested and tortured in the persecutions of Emperor Valerian. When the prisoners were taken into the court for their show trial and the judge began questioning them, none would speak. Finally Codratus called out from the gallery, "We are all Christians, servants of our Lord Jesus Christ." Martyr.

Died

Saint Andrew of Strumi

Also known as

Andrew the Ligurian

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Benedictine. Spiritual student and chief supporter of Saint Arialdo of Milan in the campaign against simony in Milan, Italy. Vallombrosan monk. Abbot of San Fedele at Strumi on the Arno. Peacemaker between the Italian cities of Florence and Arezzo. Biographer of Saint John Gualbert and Saint Arialdo.